Cat and Boy
by Dracorum
Summary: FFIV. There's a cat prowling Eblan Castle. Nobody pays attention to a cat. But you have probably seen it before, years and years ago. It still looks strangely the same. You gaze into the odd eyes. You can't seem to be able to get rid of the feeling that it knows more about life than any cat ought to. Pre-game. Spring fic-a-thon entry.


Disclaimer: What belongs to Square Enix belongs to them. Nobody owns the cat.

A/N: For the people in the RydiaxEdge Shippers forum. They may not own this cat, but their cats have sparked its eventual creation :D

A/N (7/4/13): There's a spring fic-a-thon going on on mythweaver1 bio page. Submitting this under "metamorphosis" prompt.

* * *

**Cat and Boy**

There's something going on today in the castle. Many more people are rushing about than usual. The bustle of a well-kept, well-guarded, fortress is today more like the bolting of sand lizards fleeing for cover beneath the sand. Their voices echo, coming back in distorted shrieks and yells. Though, for all their cacophony, their tones are happy and joyous.

But what humans do is no concern of mine. I stretch and wrap my tail around my body once more, preparing to go back to sleep.

"The king! The king is here!" the yeller rushes to the front, following quickly by dozens more, right up to the first steps of the pointlessly large stairs leading to the castle's doors. I recover from my near fall off the wall and carefully tuck my paws under again. That was a close one. I was so surprised I almost waste my last remaining life.

The human they called 'king' is just now stepping onto the balcony, raising his hands to calm the people even as the horn-bearers beside him start blowing a fanfare.

"My good people, we thank you for being here today to be part of this joyous celebration! You have been patient and stood strong in face of savage adversity. An evil that has now been defeated by your collective strength of wills. The brave first ninja corps, your sons and daughters, have finally defeated the last of the monsters that have plagued us for months on end: the coeurls have finally been defeated!"

More cheers. My eardrums hurt from all the loudness but I can hardly move now. The sun is at the perfect angle, warming my spot in a crenel of the castle wall at just the right degree.

The king spread his hands still further, "And there is more joyous news to be shared!" he turns and beckons for the person behind him to come forward, "We are glad to present to you, the one born on this triumphant day of victory over ferocious adversity, the one who bears the proud name of Geraldine: Prince Edward!"

The woman steps forward to hand the king a bundle of wailing human scrap. There are more and more people coming in to fill in the castle square beneath me. The combination of their yells and whistles and claps is reaching beyond a tolerable level.

I hiss in disgust and get up to leave. Time to search for alternative spots for my third afternoon nap.

Really, all the fuss over a passing flash of life never cease to astound me.

* * *

The small scrap of human can walk already. It's something of a surprise, but then again I can never keep up with how fast these humans grow.

From my perch between the bars of a castle tower's rain grate I have a good view of the boy being beaten black and blue by four other middle-size humans. I recall seeing these others as they trained in the morning in the youth ninja corps. The child also belong to the group, training right in the front beside the instructor. The bigger ones seemed to be dissatisfied with the attention he was receiving from my cursory examination of scene, before I moved to a quieter courtyard for my second morning nap. But my nap has now been interrupted for the second time. It seems they are determine to plague me.

I continue to observe the commotion below since I am awake now anyway. Despite the rain of blows from those much stronger than he is, the child is still standing, countering the kicks uselessly with short, stumpy legs and clumsy punches. Soon he will be overwhelm.

My ears prick up at the sounds of guards coming onto the wall walkway. The cowardly bullies must have heard the door banging as the humans directly below me try to wrestle with something heavy on the way out. They kick the child for the last time in the stomach and rush to leave.

The small one tries to stand. Of course he collapses right away. It would have been better for him to recover first, but the child is probably too stupid to realize. He tries again, using patterns of walls and chinks in stones as handholds to lever himself up. He succeeds finally, but still wavers to and fro like a leaf in strong wind.

"Ah, what great timing! Young Highness!" the guards call out as they spot the child below, "Look at this!"

They are holding up some kind of banner, which they let unfurl downward the moment the child looks up. The small boy pause mid-sway as he reads whatever it is on the garish piece of cloth. He pushes subtly against the nearby pillar and stands straighter.

He yells with his small lungs, "Thank you!", waves, and turns to head into the castle with head held high, seemingly unhurt.

The guards below me watch the child's slow journey. "Do you suppose he likes our birthday wish banner?" one of them asks the other.

"Of course he does. His Young Highness is a prodigy, so he's not like the rest of us, but he's always nice and polite to everybody."

Another one chime in, "Some people say he's arrogant though. It's not hard to see why since he's always going off to be by himself."

"So he should hang around and let them fall over his feet to dust his shoes?"

"You know I don't mean it like that! Just saying he'll give some blockheads the wrong idea is all."

"Well His Majesty won't just stay silent if it's really wrong of him to be that way, right?"

All of them nod in agreement. "That's true." "The king IS his father." "He probably has some kind of lesson in mind."

The brighter of the lot then says, "So, do you want to hang this here or the central square?"

"Did you get permission from the Seneschal?"

"Sure did! I bet the old croak's eyes would pop when he sees our masterwork."

The guards continue to chat as they rolled the big cloth up again and walk away. I yawn, and resume my rudely interrupted fourth afternoon nap.

* * *

Humans have no notion of territory rights. Again, the intruder in front of me reminds me of this offensive fact.

The boy child I saw some time ago has grown a bit more, but he's still smaller than the others I see him eyeing from my ceiling alcove.

"You fools! How did you manage to lose a barely-trained sod of a prince between six eyes! Were the whole mangy lot of you born yesterday!? I ought to-"

The uncouth tirade continues to filter through the false wall in front. I look at the boy to study his reaction.

He's smiling. I wonder why and pad closer. Maybe there's something else he can see with his higher vantage?

His eyes look startled over the mask he wears as I step over his feet and brush by his crouching knees. He shrugs after a moment, dismissing me as a mere stray no doubt, and returns to his quiet vigil. I look out carefully at the scene below us.

Huh. Rather than a mere hide-and-seek I had thought this situation was previously, it's actually something much more interesting.

An ambush.

I can see, or rather, _smell_ the basket full of dirty waste hanging a few feet above the heads of the four outside, just out of the range of their limited human sight. The scent is further masked from dull noses by the barely opened lid. The boy has a small shuriken ready in his hand as he waits for the four to mill about and converge on a single point.

Snap. The throw was accurate and the taunt rope snap gleefully to dump a flood of smelly stuff directly on the heads of the unsuspecting.

Disgusted yells and death threats. The indignity of having to walk all the way to the bath house trailing a smell of yesterday's garbage is their foremost concern.

I can tell the boy is trying to keep his triumphant urge under control. He stifles a snigger as he sneaks away from the scene. I watch him go.

I suppose it's time again to find another spot for the first morning nap. This area has been soiled.

* * *

A day or two later after the ambush, I happen upon him and the king in a secluded courtyard on a higher level of the castle.

"I am thoroughly disappointed Edge." the king is saying sadly, "How do you expect to gain the respect of your future subjects when you have behaved so irresponsibly?"

The child, Edge, stays silent. Sullen. He fidgets as he stands in front of his father.

They are talking in the best spot to catch the mid-morning sunlight. And the king is sitting on my bench. I sigh inwardly. Never mind. I'm too tired out from the fight with the kitchen rats to climb all the way up to the second-best spot.

I walk up to the king and leap onto his lap. Surprise at my sudden appearance comes too late, as I ignore the hands pushing me off and settle more firmly on the silk robes.

The hands continue to push regardless and I finally glare up at them, flexing my claws. The king stop mid-swipe. At least he's smart enough to know when to give up. I tuck my head under my tail again.

Edge stammers excitedly, "D-Did you see his eyes Father? They're blue and green!"

"Are they?" the king wonder aloud, "I didn't see. There's an old superstition that odd-eyed cats are descended from the old gods of the mountains, has many lives and live more than twice that number...I suppose I am now a royal cushion."

"He sure is ugly for a being descended from divinity."

I open my eyes and look at him. Edge steps back.

The king laughs, "He will make a better prince than you, my son. Look at how he commands with just his eyes." He starts to scratch my ears around the base. I let him.

Silence falls. The king continues to work on my head and under my chin. I can feel Edge getting more discomfit by the moment.

As the silence begins to be too long, he speaks up, "Father, I do regret my actions. But you do not know the whole story-!"

"I do not." the king cuts in smoothly, "That is true. However, regardless of the circumstances, I maintain that if you have not provoke them, have not given them a reason to belittle you in the first place, there would have been no need for any such thing as revenge."

I peek at the boy, his expression is neutral but his clenched fists betray his feelings.

"Revenge demeans us, Edge. The royal family is the very representation of higher order, the embodiment of law. We set aside petty feelings and put others' needs before our own, for the people have given us their sacred trust. We lead by example. Do you understand?"

Silence again. This time the hands around me are still.

The fists relaxed after a moment, a small voice whispers, "Yes, Father."

The king starts to stroke me once more, as if in afterthought. In a gentler tone he says, "You are young yet and I can only hope you have learned a lasting lesson from this. Go and see the queen, she waits for you in the solarium."

Edge bows and leaves soundlessly.

The king's hands had gone still again. I knead his knees with my paws to remind him. He resumes his service with a quiet chuckle.

"I hope you will watch over him in the coming days, Old One. There are ill rumors coming out of the north, and an uneasiness in the air I can not discern the cause of. I fear we will not be here to watch him grow to love and lead his people..." the king trails off, still smoothing my coat absent-mindedly and encountering thick tangles for his pains.

I stretch and yawn under his treatment, sleepy from the good weather and through scratching. I don't want to bother with the king's request, but then again, I do have a lot of free time. I suppose I can keep half an eye open, just to amuse myself.

You will need some diversions too, if your life goes on into eternity.

* * *

It's more than ten years on since that time on the bench and Edge is doing his best not to tread too closely on the toes of the people around him. He becomes someone else whenever he wears the ninja mask: confident and just a little brash, always making a show of his prodigious ninjutsu and battle skills. He was appointed a captain of the castle guards some years ago, the critics and the bullies of his younger years are now all under his direct command. Though they are now more at ease with their petty feelings, once they saw the prince taking his responsibility seriously, declining to just be a figurehead. He takes meals with them, and whatever he asks of them, be it drills or just routine patrols, he shows he can also do.

I watch him laugh with his fellow captains, the ones who most closely resemble his devil-may-care appearance and ways. They are good sorts, but none are as close to him as they appear.

Perhaps they know this as well. The group leave their prince as soon as he asks to be excused and drifts away, to someplace they know they can not follow. I can though, with a cat's right of way.

Edge jumps across walls, rooftops, and scales the outside turrets with ease. I trail behind him, unhurried. I know where he goes.

The highest point of Eblan is the north tower jutting off the inner castle's wall. No one occupies the rooms beneath except the one lone sentry. They know to leave their prince alone whenever he comes to sit on their eave, dangling feet down into miles of empty space.

I catch up easily enough once he has stopped moving, though lately the winding stairs tires me out a little.

Edge lets me onto his lap and I headbutt his stomach. He sighs, and gives me a push up onto his shoulder before giving me a small pat on the head. He has become my appointed ear-scratcher, second to his father. The queen doesn't like my jumping on her dresses. But her treats are quite delicious.

"How are you even alive after all these years, cat? It's been more than ten years since I first saw you." he mutters and sighs, "Never mind, don't answer. Not that you can anyway..."

I wrap my tail around his neck and purr. Humans like to think we cats purr because we're pleased about something. They're not wrong, but what we find pleasant may not always be the same thing. At the moment, I'm pleased the setting sun is shining on me in all the right spots.

But something else floats in the air besides sunlight, a bitter powdery smell from the north.

The tower off in the distance seems to glitter when I look its way, and an unpleasant feeling crawls over me like a scuttering spider.

Edge looks at me in a puzzled frown, feeling my tension. Then an earth-shattering scream tore apart the pleasant afternoon air as the sentry post on the outermost bailey rings the alarm.

He leaps up, with me still clinging to his shoulder, and scans the horizon.

A cloud of dust hangs in the line between the end of the mountains and the desert. Perhaps a sandstorm?

No, it's coming too quickly to be... Wait. I see them now. A snorting horde of crazed monsters, stampeding straight our way. Toward the castle and town.

Edge swing down into the room below to wake up the probably dozing sentry even as I hang on to my perch and yowl at the careless movement.

What can I do now? I am next to useless as a cat when a whole fortress is under attack. I push myself off his shoulders as he fired off instructions at the now widely-awake man and jump out the window to land on the sill below.

I leap down again several stories before I could think of the consequences to my old legs, and head deeper into the castle-proper by my customary route of walls and ledges.

Edge is busy rallying the corps so it falls to me to warn the king and queen.

I check myself mid-run as soon as the thought finished. Why should I have to do anything?

Humans die all the time. They kill and are killed in turn, whether by monsters or by their own devices.

I don't owe them any allegiance.

I turn again and leap down another three stories, another raised ledge on the side of the wall next to the main square. People are running now, calling for weapons and defenses to be raise.

I spot the king and queen coming out onto the balcony where I saw them many years before, announcing the birth of their son.

Suddenly explosions rock the ground and pillars of fire erupt all over the castle.

Before I know what I was about, I'm already heading towards the balcony as fast as my short legs can carry me. A final leap and I land skidding on the hard stone.

The queen lies unconscious in the king's arms as he gathers his strength to brace against the shaking. Where are their guards?

"Old One? What are you doing here, you must flee!" the king spots me at his feet as he turns to head inside. "We must gather together the people and lead them underground. Where is Edge? Guards!"

"Your guards are all sleeping, Majesty. A sound sleep of eternity."

I feel my hackles rise and I hiss at the ominous figure in red. He showed up from nowhere!

The king has already put down the queen safely behind him, in his hands appeared two katanas.

"Who are you?"

"Merely a fiend of fire. I will have to ask you to come with me, Majesties. My master requests you attend him at the top of the Tower."

The king blanch and his grip on the katanas tighten, "You can not mean...Do you have any idea what it is you are dealing with? You are toying with a power so uncontrollably destructive it has to be sealed! Who is this 'master' of yours?"

"There is no need for me to tell what you will soon discover for yourself."

Fire flares in searing blue all around us. I scream from the heat and watch helplessly as a cloak of deep crimson surrounds the king and queen.

The world starts to fade slowly and painfully to black. The fire retreats and I am left alone on the balcony. What use is eternal life, when all you can do is watch the world as it turns?

"Cat - what are you - what happened here? Where is Father and Mother?"

Ah, he is still so young. I can feel his gentle hands on my burnt skin as he tries to control his trembling.

"Don't die," he whispers to me, "Please."

I'm sorry. I wish I can watch you grow a little more. But I can not speak, so I can not tell you...

* * *

Edge cradled the small creature to his chest and stifled a cry of bitterness.

"Your Young Highness!" "Master!" "Prince!" several voices cried out around him as the owners rushed onto the balcony. "We must hurry to a safer location!"

Another explosion rocked the castle and the walls to his left crumbled in a sea of flames. Edge stood up and shouted across the chaos that was the main square, his voice miraculously travelled through the screams and yells, "All those who are able go and help the women and children in the town. Head for the cave under the mountains! First and second corps to the vanguard, third and fourth corps to the rear!"

The ninjas below had stopped and stood to attention as soon as they saw his figure towered on the blackened balcony their king and queen used to stand on. The spell broke as Edge dismissed them with a sharp salute, and they ran to do as the prince bid as if there were monsters nipping at their heels. That metaphor would become truth soon enough.

He turned back toward the people standing mouths agape behind him, with no doubt in his mind that his words to the panicked ninjas below would be obeyed, and addressed the elderly man in front, "Seneschal get all of the servants together and salvage anything usable into light packs so we can all carry some. Leave everything unnecessary behind, make sure people save themselves before their things. The rest of you get the castle guards fighting the fire and join the fifth corps. Keep the monsters from harassing the citizens."

The Seneschal, assorted captains, and sentries still stared unmoving, clearly taken aback by a voice suddenly void of all the usual cocky tone he was accustomed to adopt in their hearing.

Edge scowled and snapped, "What are you standing all slack-jawed for! Go! I will follow in the rear guard."

They hurriedly bowed and raced away.

Edge's eyes hardened as he surveyed the scene of destruction one last time over his shoulders. The airships bombardment had slowed as they passed over the castle, but the first of the fleet was already banking to return for a second barrage. They had to escape. NOW.

He vaulted over the balcony and into a side garden, still unbelievably intact from the explosions, and laid the cat down on his mother's favorite flower bed.

"I'm sorry I can not give a you a proper grave, old friend." Edge bowed his head over the small corpse, "I will find the mastermind behind this and make him pay. I will save everyone, even if they call me a pampered prince behind my back. I will return someday with banners held high in triumph and children throwing garlands over our heads in celebration..." He trailed off, left with no more words to say to comfort his own heart.

Edge picked one of the smaller flowers, laid it on the body, then stood and hurried away without looking back.

A wind gusted in from the north and the fire roared in glee as the people fled toward an uncertain future. The Tower of Babil gleamed in the silvering dusk with an alien intent. The moons loomed in the sky above the smoking wreck of Eblan and watched the story unfold...


End file.
